The question of “how to fight the Colorado potato beetle” arises for everyone involved in agriculture every year.
Various means are used, but all of them only allow to reduce and control the number of insects, but not to eliminate them completely.
However, this is enough to save the harvest.
The easiest way
When looking for how to poison the Colorado potato beetle, people often come across the persistent opinion that any method is dangerous for the harvest, as well as the health of its future consumers. Therefore, manual collection is still relevant.
This is a reliable means of reducing the number of insects, but it requires a lot of time. You have to collect adults, larvae preparing to pupate, and also eggs laid by females, 25-80 at a time.
The collection is carried out in a galvanized bucket with a concentrated salt solution. The procedure must be repeated at least twice a week.
Prevention methods at the stage of planting crops
Potato processing is always relevant. But there are several simple tips that allow you to reduce the risk of crop damage at the planting stage.
To do this, summer residents:
- dust potato tubers with wood ash (purchased or home-made), corn flour;
- onion peels, dry citrus peels, pine sawdust or needles are placed into the formed holes;
- legumes are planted along with potatoes;
- spread out the planting of starchy fruits over several weeks so that the bushes do not emerge at the same time;
- Plants that repel pests (calendula, nasturtium, cilantro, dill, garlic, etc.) are planted in rows and around the area.
Many options have been invented, but it is unclear which of them will be effective in each specific case.
Effective methods of destruction
There are various recommendations on how to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle. You can prepare solutions for spraying bushes using folk recipes or use chemical industry products. When choosing what to treat potatoes with, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the compositions and their safety.
To prepare solutions according to folk recipes, everything is used: from fragrant plants to laundry soap (even dried tobacco). The chemical industry offers bioactive compounds, pesticides. They will poison pests, but you need to carefully read the instructions, assessing the degree of risk of use, harm to plants, humans.
